Asif Ali Zardari, the leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, also met with the Americans but did not speak to reporters afterward. Husain Haqqani, an adviser who attended the meeting with him, said, though, that the American officials had been given notice that the old ways were over.

“If I can use an American expression, there is a new sheriff in town,” Haqqani said. “Americans have realised that they have perhaps talked with one man for too long.”

Neither Negroponte nor Boucher spoke publicly about the meetings, but the Pakistanis said the Americans expressed willingness to work with the new government.

Distancing himself from Musharraf, Gillani, moments after taking the oath of office, said, “We have to give supremacy to the Parliament so that we can jointly take the country out of these crises.”

He later received a call from President Bush offering congratulations. According to Gillani’s office, he told Bush that “Pakistan would continue to fight terrorism in all its forms” but that a “comprehensive approach” was required.”

Chief of staff of the Pakistan Army, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, also seemed to eager to show he was his own man, relieving two generals on Monday who had been close to Musharraf.

The timing of the American visit was criticised in the Pakistan media for creating the appearance that the US was trying to dictate policy to a government not even hours old.